Ukraine (Mod Note & Threadbanned Users in OP)

Targeted sanctions are focused on targeting an individual, e.g. one in Putin's inner circle. Those ones don't really impact the public. Likewise travel bans, assets freezes.

Targeted economic sanctions tend to focus on a particular area e.g. particular arms imports. They may impact the public slightly, but indeed are intended to target the arms

Broad economic sanctions do impact the affected country (and public)

As though Forbes isn't a mouthpiece of US imperialism?

Look, nothing Russia says or does is going to be accepted as evidence that Crimea wants to be part of Russia.

Nothing the Ukraine/US side will be accepted by other. It's moot. Russia own Crimea today, they aren't going give it up and i'll wager Zelensky and Biden know that.

Which was mentioned in the article. Highlighting the parts:

"Lawmaker Pavlo Frolov said Ms. Denisova was also accused of making insensitive and unverifiable statements about alleged Russian sex crimes and spending too much time in Western Europe during the invasion."

"“The unclear focus of the Ombudsman's media work on the numerous details of ‘sexual crimes committed in an unnatural way’ and ‘rape of children’ in the occupied territories that could not be confirmed by evidence, only harmed Ukraine,” Mr. Frolov said in a Facebook post.

Some 90 journalists and over 50 other professionals had signed an open letter expressing concern and outrage that Ms. Denisova had been insensitive in her airing of allegations of sexual crimes, particularly those involving children and minors."

The poster I was replying to wrote:

Which appears to be conflating the firing of an official with there being "no evidence" of rape in Ukraine, which is of course absurd.

Of the top of my head, there have been and are investigations by the International Criminal Court, HRW (Human Rights Watch), Amnesty, the UN has called for investigations and is setting up frameworks. UK and Canada have sent teams in, there's a French team in Bucha (but I don't know if that also includes sexual violence)

The thread appears to be infested by pro-russian opinion today, for some reason.

Back to the facts:

A. The russian army (thugs, thieves, cowards and murderers, in my opinion) invaded a sovereign independent country without cause, killing civilians and destroying infrastructure across Ukraine in an effort to wipe the country off the map.

B. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have fought heroically to defend their homeland and push out the invaders. They continue to do so against a stronger opponent - hopefully they will prevail.

C. The best end to this war will be to see tens of thousands of dead russian personnel and ignominious defeat for the Putin regime. Russia cannot be permitted to hold onto any of the occupied territory of Ukraine.

You're the one rejecting evidence, buddy me old pal.

Here is the beloved Forbes confirming the Crimea referendum results were accurate. Gallup and other polling organisations kept getting the same results poll after poll.

To quote from the article:

"One year after the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in the Black Sea, poll after poll shows that the locals there — be they Ukrainians, ethnic Russians or Tatars are mostly all in agreement: life with Russia is better than life with Ukraine."

Even Forbes stopped trying to discredit the referendum years ago.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/03/20/one-year-after-russia-annexed-crimea-locals-prefer-moscow-to-kiev/

We can forget about HRW and Amnesty for a start as they are heavily biased and have no legal validity except the evidence that they provide to the ICC and UN.

So all we have so far are UN investigations and setting up of frameworks to investigate the claims that have come from the same people who just fired their chief for not having evidence.

That's not evidence. That's unproven accusations at best.

Burgerface, you say ‘No opposition ‘to referendum outcome. Will you get up the yard and STAY THERE. I am not Russian and I have never been to Russia but, I understand that if your effort at opposing anything that is gov policy is not part of the official opposition policy you will get ‘a wrap on the knuckles’ eg family will be harrised, ostracised , you might get up to 15 yrs jail if you are lucky because you can also end up being fed on that ‘ contaminated white powder ‘,.